The use of treads specifically designed for truck tires has been directed to various forms of rib-type tires. This non-driving axle exhibits cornering and turning loads as well as straight line running loads. Some skilled in the art believe the tread ribs should ideally have a sharp edge adjacent circumferential grooves to provide improved handling.
These conventional sharp edges, during normal use, may exhibit irregular tread wear. Thus, high wear erosion may be common in the shoulder region of such a tread. One conventional approach may use a laterally located circumferentially continuous rib that, under normal driving conditions, may be in contact with the road. The force or pressure exerted by the lateral rib on the road is less than the force or pressure of a shoulder rib on the road. The conventional tire thereby may rely on the lateral rib to protect the sharp edge of the shoulder rib.
Another conventional approach includes a non-radially-recessed circumferential rib adjacent a narrow circumferentially continuous groove and a shoulder rib. Still another conventional approach provides a tire tread with a plurality of circumferentially continuous grooves, a pair of radially recessed shoulder ribs, and a pair of narrow circumferential decoupling shoulder grooves. The radially recessed ribs of the tire, as molded, may be non-road contacting, under static load and normal driving conditions. The tire may exhibit improved wear, maintaining the sharp edge of the shoulder rib without creating other non-uniform wear problems. Although the above-mentioned conventional tires may provide wear in excess of 100,000 miles on the original tread, a new and superior solution to irregular tread wear problems would be desirable.